4.6 billion baggage fees: Airlines pocketed $15.5 billion last year

4.6 billion baggage fees, The great occasions for the nation’s airways continued final 12 months, with the nation’s largest carriers reporting a mixed revenue of $15.5 billion, together with $4.6 billion from baggage charges.

The 23 largest airways reported a mixed after-tax revenue for the fifth consecutive 12 months, representing a robust rebound from almost a decade of losses following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults and the financial recession that adopted, in response to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The airline business loved the largest 12 months on report in 2015 when low gasoline prices helped airways gather a report of almost $25 billion in income, the bureau stated.

The airline business performed down the revenue improve in 2017, crediting it partly to the tax overhaul laws adopted by federal lawmakers final 12 months. Airline representatives famous that gasoline and labor prices elevated final 12 months by greater than $7 billion, in contrast with 2016.

A worthwhile airline business is sweet information for vacationers, stated Alison McAfee, a spokeswoman for Airways for America, the commerce group that represents the nation’s largest carriers.

“Airline profitability advantages prospects as airways are sturdy, in a position to compete and reinvest of their enterprise with new planes, merchandise and locations, together with expanded service to small communities and internationally, which in flip creates jobs,” McAfee stated.

The nation’s airline business added 450 new planes final 12 months, she added.

The nation’s airways collected $4.6 billion from baggage charges and $2.9 billion from reservation change charges, which symbolize the one two ancillary passenger charges the airways are required to report back to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Different charges — akin to expenses to improve to a roomier seat, purchase meals or drinks, or transport an animal — will not be reported to the federal bureau.

McAfee stated airfares have remained low in recent times as a result of vacationers can now guide a ticket with solely these further facilities and repair they need.

However the annual American Buyer Satisfaction Index research of greater than 12,000 People discovered that satisfaction with airways dropped 2.7% this 12 months. The decline almost reversed all of final 12 months’s rise in buyer satisfaction that the 2017 survey attributed to decrease fares and improved customer support.